Why I Stopped Asking Learners to use the Handbrake in Traffic

One of the reasons my instructor way back when suggested using the handbrake was to relax. If you've just come up to traffic and the light has just gone red then using the handbrake let's you take your feet off the pedals and have a breather.

When I was learning I was taught to use the handbrake when stopped in traffic for a while. At the time I hated it because it was an extra step to get confused and preoccupied with. Now that I'm more familiar with driving I prefer doing it simply because it feels less tiring than constantly having to have my foot on the brake if we're stopped for a bit. I think it also sometimes helps when moving away. I didn't even know the official reasoning was about supposed brake light glare.

The glare from brake lights thing is actually something I've experienced. No one uses the handbrake when waiting in the US, and so at night there is a lot of glare from brake lights. Teslas especially have really bright brake lights, and it's honestly really annoying. In fact, when driving at night I pretty much wish all lights were dimmer. There's a lot of cars now with LED headlights that are basically as bright as high beams were in the 90s and so I find there is a lot more glare at night when driving than I would like.

In my country I've never heard of using the handbrake while standing in traffic so it was quite surprising to hear that it's taught like this in the UK. I agree with you on the reasons why it's a bad idea

Rule 114 affects different people differently... I'm personally quite sensitive to glare at night and i find driving in the dark very tiring because of it and it's one of my big annoyances when people in traffic don't use their handbrake particularly at night. during the day it's not so bad, but I find it incredibly frustrating that people don't really consider it at night....Having the front and rear lights on at night mitigates a lot of what you've spoken about about other road users awareness of situations like parked cars vs queue.... My preference is to use the handbrake and rest my foot on the brake pedal, so that if someone runs into me , the natural instinct of putting my foot out to stop myself engages the footbrake. I can still choose to use the foot brake to show my lights if needed (e.g. back of the queue on a slip road / fast road etc) and I'll generally leave my footbrake lights on until a car comes to a stop behind me. I only passed 5 years ago and remember what learning to drive was like but it does worry me a bit that people don't have the concentration levels needed to be able to remember the process of Clutch in - in gear - bite point - handbrake off - add revs / clutch out..... If doing 5-6 different things in a few seconds too complicated for people, shouldn't we really just be teaching people to drive Automatic's anyway? Interesting video though.

I was taught to put my handbrake on in traffic to reposition my feet without fearing the car rolling back. This allowed me to pull off quicker. With practise, I was able to pull off without the handbrake to reposition my feet. It was a good way to build confidence.

Thanks for teaching your pupils to blind the people waiting behind them

Richard, just wanted to say a massive Thank you, literally watched everyone of your videos the past three months and today I finally passed on my third attempt, you’ve taught me more from these videos than my actual three instructors I used, I’ll be recommending your vids to anyone I know learning to drive, p.s my wife just walked in and said “why are you still watching these you’ve passed now ?” I’ll never stop 🤣🤣 thanks again my friend, your videos have been really insightful, educational and at times hilarious, keep doing what your doing 😁🚘👌🏻

I find that the glare from modern brake lights in your eyes for any period of time is dazzling and leaves spots in your eyes. When I did an AA Drivetech course for commercial driving we were told to use the handbrake and take your foot off the brake once traffic behind was stationary. If you get hit from behind your foot could lift off the brake, in which case the handbrake, although not as strong, would be better. The fact that it is mentioned in the Highway Code seems agood reason to use the handbrake. I have been driving for over 40 years too.

Personally, I have to disagree with the glare issue (I think I have astigmatism). A queue of brake lights is personally a nightmare for me and the longer I have to look at it the worse it gets. I'm okay with break lights when people are slowing down/ momentarily stopping or oncoming headlights because they're either moving or not in a fixed place for a long time. If you're the person who does get dazzled by break lights seeing how far the queue of traffic goes is of no benefit and if anything it will take you longer to get going (even if you don't get glare, seeing the front of the queue offers little benefit anyway as you can only move when the car in front of you does).

I go handbrake and neutral whenever I have to wait for more than a couple of seconds unless I'm at the front of a queue when I'll leave it in gear with the clutch down. I have no more intellectual reason to do it except laziness and particularly on long drives, every bit of energy saved counts!

I only ever use the parking brake when I want to rest my foot and I know that it's going to be a long wait at certain lights.

I was an instructor for many years teaching learners, advanced, lorries and buses and I think your manner and technique is excellent. Very good justification for actions although I differ slightly with opinion regarding glare of brake lights at night. Provided the car behind me has come to a halt I will then take foot off foot brake to relieve glare and apply handbrake. Re handbrake for some autos, my present AMT I have been assured by main dealer both footbrake and handbrake disengage creep, not convinced so any prolonged stop I select neutral and usually apply handbrake. This is personal choice as I am not now instructing and is a choice for mechanical reasons.

Im from the philippines and i watch your tutorials to hone my driving skills and i have a positive progress towards my driving thanks a bunch👌

This makes a lot of sense to me. I only ever use the handbrake when waiting at level crossings, especially when the barriers have just come down and I know it will be a long wait - I do this just to rest my feet. It would never have occurred to me to leave it in drive with handbrake on - I press the footbrake, handbrake on, then into park, then footbrake off.

your job as a driving instructor is not to make it easier, its to teach the skills the pupil will need when they drive unsupervised, and if you can make that simple then well done (in the past i got told to stop using the word easy and change it to simple as some things in life, like learning to drive, are not easy to do but are simple to do). if they are struggling with pulling away with the handbrake applied while in traffic then that could mean they need concentrated practice at that skill so they can do it and its more simple for them to it when in traffic. for the majority of collisions where a vehicle is rear ended, its not about the strength of the brakes applied but the vehicle being stopped after the collision. in the motorbike world, the advice is to stop and put it into neutral so if you are rear ended and you let go of the controls the bike wont go far or be out of control, where as if you hold the clutch while in first gear, get rear ended, you twist the throttle and drop the clutch the bike could accelerate off not under control. in the car, each driver will react differently to being hit, its possible to lose control of the pedals on impact. with the hand brake on, the car will not move after the collision, even when the road is on a gradient and if in gear the handbrake is enough to stall the vehicle if the clutch released. by being on the foot brake you are also taking more energy from the impact in your vehicle rather than using the hand brake where the energy is spread out as your vehicle is moved forward which could lead to more harm to the driver. technology is good in modern cars but there is a chance the driver wil need the skills to drive an older car or vehicle which is why those skills should still be taught. new tech is a tool to help and aid your driving skills at the end of the day, not do it for you. you can also still be using the hand brake and gently press the foot brake to have the lights come on if you feel you need that once stopped but for your example of being on a high speed road i would not advise that and use your advice.

That's a very good explanation, I use the parking brake mainly because it feels less tiring, but only after the car behind me has come to a stop. I do think there's still an objectively good safety argument to be made for the parking brake in that it doesn't depend on the driver's continuous, conscious effort. For example, you don't have to be knocked unconscious by an impact, you just need to be momentarily shocked, possibly even a bit furious and gravity can do the rest.

How wonderful the issue it is, and the manner you handle the issue❤ I learned how we driver should in details observe and judge the situation not only our convenience but also all stakeholders involved with our vehicles in dynamics. If we drive are not aware of our role and responsibilities as the only decision-maker on the driver's seats, accidents are only a matter of time. Instructions only provide directions, but all drivers take care themselves with their vehicles as a partner once on the road. Thank again for such an inspiring content, Richard 🌹

As a driver of now 18 years, my personal preference is to use the handbrake as it means I can get the revs up a bit before I release the brake when I'm ready to go! You do make some good points especially about being at the back of a queue on an otherwise fast moving road, and I in fact experienced pretty much the same scenario today at the bottom of a hill just about to go up a steep hill (which is a hill i hate queueing on because often the traffic is creeping uphill slowly which my car doesn't handle all that well without a fair amount of revs anyway), i was at the back of the queue with, unusually for this road, no one in sight behind me to the top of the hill (the brow of the hill itself being the exact same point as a bend in the road). I deliberately left extra space as a result, even with the handbrake on, when I saw the next car coming behind I then used my footbrake as well to indicate to the car coming behind that "yes I am stopped". Generally if I'm at the back of a queue these days, even if I am using my handbrake, I will also use the footbrake to show people behind that I'm stopped until they too have slowed down or even stopped. Car positioning can also help - if stopped near, on or in rare cases just after a bend I will do my best to position my car a bit wider so as to help any drivers behind see me earlier when needed.

In Ireland you still get marked for not using the handbrake if you stop for more than 10-ish seconds. I recently passed my test but I’ll continue to watch these videos because you never really stop learning as a driver imo